Beyond the Masks Part 17
by Isabella GL
Summary: Will Holly's prayers be answered?


Holly tossed and turned, her mind lost in shadowy dreams. Masks, red, gold and black, floated before her eyes, and not matter how many she tossed aside, she would only find strange faces behind them. Was Roger really lost to her forever?

She had been venturing so deep within her dream that when she finally heard the voice, it was from very far.

"Would you stop fidgeting? I'm trying to sleep here!"

"If you're not happy, you can go sleep on the couch," she mumbled before sitting abruptly. "Roger?"

His eyes were closed but a smile played on the corner of his lips. "Why are you hogging all the space anyway? I'm sicker than you are."

Holly looked around frantically, laughing and crying, while trying to kiss and hug him at the same time. "Oh, Roger! Wait, I have to call the nurse. Where's that stupid button anyway?"

"Honey, wait. WAIT! You can call whoever you want in a few minutes, but I have to tell you something before I forget."

"What is it?" She asked, gently stroking his hair.

"The craziest thing happened to me after I was shot. I went…somewhere. I don't know where it was, maybe it was even just a dream, but you were there with me, Holly, and we were so happy! It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. I'd say it was heaven if I wasn't convinced that I'm headed straight to hell." He paused, catching his breath.

"If it was a dream, Roger, then I had the same."

Roger opened his eyes. "I thought so. It looked so real! But then you went away…"

"I didn't mean too."

"I wanted to go after you, but I couldn't find the way back. It went on like this for how don't know how long, and then all of a sudden, I started having these sensations."

"What sensations?"

"I could feel you, I could feel your hands on me, even thought I had no body at all. Then I felt you pulling me toward you. And now, I'm here. You brought me back, didn't you?"

"Well, I don't know about that, but I sure gave it my best try," Holly said, wiping the tears off her face.

Roger closed his eyes again. "You can call them now. I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

"What's this I hear? You tried to seduce me while I was in a coma?" Roger asked teasingly the next day. After countless tests, the doctors and nurses had finally graced them with some time alone.

Holly was sitting next to his bed, eating cherry-flavored Jell-O. "You were misinformed," she replied with a straight face.

"I don't think so, you see, I have it from a very reliable source that you climbed into my bed, naked."

"Well, it worked, didn't it? You came out of it."

"I certainly did."

"Then stop whining."

"I'm not complaining! In fact, I rather dig your new look. Can't wait to get you into bed for real."

Holly took a quick look at her reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall. Her hair was wildly sticking out of her head bandage and her face was a light shade of grey. She picked up her hospital gown as seriously as she could and replied: "Yes, washed-out green has always worked on me."

Roger laughed and motioned her to come near. "I love you," he said before kissing her lightly on the lips.

She went back to her chair and sat, wincing. "Old woman," Roger nagged.

"At least I can sit, which is more than you can say for yourself."

She sighed, finally relaxing for the first time in days. She would have been content to spend the rest of her life like this, bantering with her husband in a hospital room.

"I can't believe that we made it," Roger said after a while. "We made through the kidnapping, through your amnesia, and then Guerrera."

Holly's face darkened at the mention of her kidnapper. "When I think of what I've put you trough because of this man, I feel so…ashamed."

"Holly, don't. If the roles had been reversed, I would've done exactly the same."

* * *

"Ok, you lost me. What would you have done the same?"

They had been interrupted for a while by a visit from Ed, Blake, Johnny and Ross, and Holly was now eager to resume their conversation.

"I mean that if I would've been the one with amnesia, you're the last person that I would've wanted to be with."

"Gee, thanks," she deadpanned.

"Just hear me out, will you? He shifted in his bed, trying to find a more comfortable position. "After our fight at the hotel, I was so mad at you that all I wanted to do was to wring your neck. That lasted about two seconds. After that, I calmed down and really tried to put myself in your shoes. I remembered how it was for me in early 1990; I was married to Alex, chasing after Mindy Lewis and God knows who else. I couldn't be bothered with you, or at least, that's what I told myself."

"Oh, yeah, those were the good old days," she commented dryly.

Roger pretended not to hear her and went on with his explanation. "The truth is that I was deathly afraid of being with you. I saw myself as this big, important, invincible man, and the last thing that I wanted was for some woman to come and rain on my parade. Only you could do that; only you could see me as I really was, with my flaws and all."

"So that's why you went after all those other women?"

"Well, that and the fact that I was a pompous ass and a womanizer."

"I remember that."

"And I might be wrong, but I think that you were afraid too. In the last few weeks, it was just like in 1990; you were still in a frame of mind where you had to go for the safe choice. You had to go for the man who would make you feel secure, who would never challenge this image of Holly Lindsey that you had created."

Holly mused over his words for a few seconds. "I guess you're right. Being with you meant going outside of my comfort zone."

"Exactly, it was much easier for you to be with guys like Diego, or at least who you thought he was, or Ross, or even Johnny Bauer."

"Johnny Bauer?" she retorted, playing dumb.

Roger grinned and wagged his finger at her. "I'm not stupid, Holly. I remember how it was between you two when you worked together, and I saw you a couple of weeks ago. There was definitely a tension between you too."

"You, Sir, live in Fantasy Ville."

"And you live in Denial City!"

Roger started laughing, but did wonder once again if anything had happened between Holly and Johnny. He decided he was better off not knowing; whatever Holly had done in the past few weeks, she had not done it as his wife.

"Enough about that," he finally concluded. "How about we start talking about our immediate future instead?"

"Ok, what did you have in mind?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about our honeymoon?" Roger asked with a wink.

"You still want to go on a honeymoon, after everything that happened?! Where would you want to go?" Holly asked, interested in spite of herself.

"Not in Acapulco, that's for sure. This place definitely does not agree with us."

"Ok. How about Europe?"

"I think I have a better idea," Roger replied mysteriously.

No matter how hard Holly tried, Roger would not be coaxed into revealing their destination that day.


End file.
